This invention relates generally to automobile door hinges and, more particularly, to a three-piece lift-off door hinge assembly incorporating an integrated hold-open door check arrangement.
It is well known in the automotive industry to form a three piece separable automobile door hinge assembly. An example of one such hinge is shown in Calcaterra et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,687 entitled Three Piece Door Hinge issued Sep. 12, 1989 enabling a vehicle door to be readily removed and rehung during an assembly line operation. Calucci U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,331 issued Feb. 28, 1989 entitled Door Lift-Off Hinge discloses another three piece door hinge assembly which provides self-alignment reception of the pivot pin within a leaf hinge hole of the door-half member.
The present invention concerns providing a three piece lift-off automobile door hinge assembly having an integrated hold-open door check arrangement. Marchione U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,165 issued Oct. 8, 1991, entitled Door On-Door Off Vehicle Hinge With Hold-Open Mechanism, concerns a three piece separable hinge which includes a plunger-type hold-open mechanism that remains in its entirety with the vehicle body when the door is removed.
Bonin U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,755 issued May 30, 1989 discloses a system for marking a vehicle door with respect to a vehicle body upright. A lever is articulated by one of its ends to the vehicle body and a guide disposed on the door in the vicinity of the articulation of the lever in the door closed position and being in abutment against the other end of the lever with the door in its fully open position.
Salazar U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,675 issued Aug. 6, 1985 entitled Door Hinge With Integral Check discloses a two piece door hinge assembly with a leaf spring type hold-open device carried on the hinge body plate and a roller carried in a cage portion of the hinge door plate which engages the leaf spring only during the portion of travel proximate the door open position.